The Prince

By Michael Flynn

Book Overview

The Prince is a 16th-century political treatise by the Italian diplomat and political theorist Niccol Machiavelli. From correspondence a version appears to have been distributed in 1513, using a Latin title, De Principatibus (About Principalities). However, the printed version was not published until 1532, five years after Machiavelli's death. This was done with the permission of the Medici pope Clement VII, but "long before then, in fact since the first appearance of the Prince in manuscript, controversy had swirled about his writings."Although it was written as if it were a traditional work in the mirrors for princes style, it is generally agreed that it was especially innovative. This is only partly because it was written in the vernacular Italian rather than Latin, a practice which had become increasingly popular since the publication of Dante's Divine Comedy and other works of Renaissance literature.The Prince is sometimes claimed to be one of the first works of modern philosophy, especially modern political philosophy, in which the effective truth is taken to be more important than any abstract ideal. It was also in direct conflict with the dominant Catholic and scholastic doctrines of the time concerning how to consider politics and ethics.Although it is relatively short, the treatise is the most remembered of Machiavelli's works and the one most responsible for bringing the word "Machiavellian" into usage as a pejorative. It also helped make "Old Nick" an English term for the devil, and even contributed to the modern negative connotations of the words "politics" and "politician" in western countries. In terms of subject matter it overlaps with the much longer Discourses on Livy, which was written a few years later. In its use of near-contemporary Italians as examples of people who perpetrated criminal deeds for politics, another lesser-known work by Machiavelli which The Prince has been compared to is the Life of Castruccio Castracani.The descriptions within The Prince have the general theme of accepting that the aims of princes-such as glory and survival-can justify the use of immoral means to achieve those ends."He who neglects what is done for what ought to be done, sooner effects his ruin than his preservation."-Machiavelli, "Chapter 15"

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1503379647
• ISBN13: 9781503379640
• Release Date: November 2018
• Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 84 Pages
• Weight: 0.34 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Overrated but still worth the read.

The Prince by Machiavelli is a book written in 1513 as a guide for Princes on how to rule either new principalities or old ones. It's an interesting book, but a simple one. As an introductory course on Realpolitik it works well, but most of the things he says you'll already know. He'll also just be wrong at certain times like when he talks about Military Matters that he very clearly doesn't understand. However this book does...

amazing all over

machiavelli wrote one of the most influential pieces of literature during the 16th century and i’m proud to say that i’ve read it and enjoyed it.

Prince review

This is a must read for literate thinking persons. I have enjoyed the historical setting introduction to the text. It was a valuable enlightenment into the character of Machiavelli, and the events occureing in the nations during Machiavelli's life. Many of the things he speaks of, a person can see repeated or reflected in politics in our world history in the succeeding centuries since Machiavelli's time. A worthwhile way to...

A Simple Book, Yet It Holds The Answers To Politics

Machiavelli's The Prince is one of the classic books to center the ideas of gaining and holding power in political life and what a "Prince" must do to not only accomplish these tasks, but do them successfully. This version of the book is a great copy to use and carry around because Penguin has made this short book into a very small compact size, while not compromising text size and even leaving some room to write in the margins...

The virtues of Machiavelli

In the course of my political science training, I studied at great length the modern idea of realpolitik. In that study I came to realise that it was somewhat incomplete, without the companionship of The Prince, by Niccolo Machiavelli, a Florentine governmental official in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. The Prince is an oft quoted, oft mis-quoted work, used as the philosophical underpinning for much of what...